Cruise Ship Lawyers Blog
A Royal Caribbean ship scored just one point above “unsatisfactory” in a recent health inspection conducted by the Centers for Disease Control; now ship officials are working to fix the issue.
In February, Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas had its regular health inspection in which inspectors found over 50 hygiene and safety protocol violations, according to media reports. The violations included improper food storage and crew members handling ice with open forearm wounds. Youth programs also failed to properly report children with GI symptoms, a cause for concern given news reports of a recent string of norovirus outbreaks on ships.
Typically, cruise lines must score above an 85 to pass evaluations. Symphony of the Seas narrowly passed the threshold with a score of 86, according to media reporting. To correct the issues, the cruise line alleges some of the steps taken included retraining employees and amending standard operating procedures related to food storage and reporting illnesses in youth centers.
Leesfield & Partners
Leesfield & Partners has 48 years of experience representing cruise ship passengers, consistently securing record-breaking verdicts and settlements on their behalf. Over this time, the firm has become a trusted name in personal injury litigation, particularly in maritime cases, renowned for its innovative legal strategies and relentless representation of injured clients and grieving families. The firm has gained national and international recognition for its work in representing both passengers and crew members injured aboard cruise ships.
While cruise lines are legally regarded as common carriers, with a non-delegable duty to ensure the safety and protection of their passengers, many ships attempt to avoid liability when confronted with a lawsuit. With decades of personal injury expertise, Leesfield & Partners has found that cruise lines often fail to staff their vessels with medical teams that meet U.S. standards. This can have severe consequences for passengers in need of medical care, resulting in delayed diagnoses, misdiagnoses or inadequate treatment altogether.
This was the case for a crew member represented by Leesfield & Partners who went to the infirmary with symptoms of nausea. When administering a medication meant to quell his symptoms, medical staff on the ship ignored the clear warning labels that instructed them to inject the medication deep into the muscle over a period of time. Instead, this medication was erroneously injected straight into the man’s IV. He was in immediate agony. In the chaos, which lasted 17 painful hours before he could disembark from the ship, the doctors caring for our client searched online for what to do. By the time he was finally able to disembark from the ship and seek medical attention on shore, our client’s arm displayed early signs of necrosis with erythema, tenderness and cyanosis.
Doctors at the hospital were eventually forced to amputate his right arm. Leesfield & Partners secured an over $3 million arbitration award for the man.
Previous Medical Malpractice Cases on Ships
Leesfield & Partners represented a family and their 9-month-old daughter who were traveling for the first time on a ship when their lives were forever changed. The infant was misdiagnosed with a stomach bug during their journey by cruise doctors. This medical staff on the ship missed her meningitis symptoms and did not administer the necessary medication.
As a result, the child became a multi-digital and foot amputee. A substantial recovery amount was secured by the firm in that case.
Due to the negligence and utter carelessness of cruise ship doctors, a Leesfield & Partners client developed a lifelong virus. In this case, the 72-year-old retired nurse suffered a medical emergency while on the ship. She was given an emergency blood transfusion that was not screened for HIV and, as a result, was later diagnosed with HIV.
The firm secured a settlement of $4.25 million for the woman in that case.
In addition to hiring subpar medical professionals, many cruise lines will attempt to deter or deny patient evacuations in an attempt to keep to their voyage schedules. In denying evacuations for patients in distress, these cruise lines have done further harm to patients in need of proper medical care. Previously, Leesfield & Partners handled the case of a woman, 65, who suffered a stroke on a ship.
The firm obtained a $4 million award for the client after the cruise ship failed to evacuate her.
A $16-year-old client was denied an evacuation and was misdiagnosed despite her obvious signs of a stroke. The firm obtained a $3 million settlement for the minor and her family.
Other Cruise Ship Incidents
Leesfield & Partners handles all manner of cruise ship incidents in addition to medical malpractice cases. Previously, the firm secured a $7.25 million settlement for a mother and daughter whose parasailing excursion went terribly wrong. The excursion, purchased aboard the ship they were traveling on, went awry when a rope suddenly snapped in high winds. The two, who were already up in the air, fell rapidly toward the water. The mother was killed in the incident and the daughter suffered life-changing injuries.
In an attempt to avoid liability, the cruise attempted to claim that the company that handled the excursion was an independent contractor, however, this did not work as the experience was purchased and arranged on the ship
Another cruise ship excursion gone wrong being handled by the firm involves a negligent and poorly trained jet ski tour guide who hit our client from behind in an attempt to pass her on the water. The resulting injuries in that case include fractures of our client’s spine and significant bruising.
That case, which is being handled by Partner Justin B. Shapiro, is ongoing.
Another ongoing case involves hidden cameras which were planted in the private bathrooms inside various passenger cabins by a crew member. The crew member in that case was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for planting the cameras and filming multiple passengers, many of whom were children.
Our client, who was among those that were filmed without her knowledge or consent, said the ordeal had left her traumatized and devastated.
In media interviews regarding the case, Bernardo Pimentel II, a Trial Attorney at the firm, said that more needs to be done to protect passengers.
“If we hold these carriers, these cruise lines … accountable for these kind of situations, they can now proactively seek out this misconduct and these people, these individuals that can commit these kind of actions against their passengers before it even occurs,” he said.
